Smell- Heavy cherries up front. Bourbon-like lingering aromas of caramel, vanilla, and oak take up the rest of the aroma followed by some light boozieness. Cherries still dominate this beer.

Taste- Cherry tartness mingles with some heavy oakyness. Lemon and earthy grassyness. Plums or another similar stone fruit take its place. Mild tartness, less than I suspected from the smell or style. Bourbon flavors finish this beer.

Mouthfeel- This is where it loses me. On a scale of 1-10 for carbonation (10 being highest), this has a 1. It's barely there. Mild tartness, not puckering though. Smooth finish. I can't decide whether or not I like the lack of carbonation or not.

Overall- I'm torn on this beer. I don't know whether I love it or hate it. (983 characters)

More User Reviews:

Man....first smelling this beer I knew it was a great Our Bruin Flemish Sour. Smells of sour cherry with a mild barrel funk ending. Very dark mahogany in appearance. Nice white head with a light purple hue...stayed around awhile to a thin lacy head. A small swear brought a little 1/4 finger head back. The taste was what I was hoping for. Sour cherries up front that hits your back sides of your toungue. Then the tart barrel funky sour hits the middle of the tongue to finish...hanging on at the end is a dry almost earthy after taste. This was a great beer. A must have if you like this style. (596 characters)

The beer pours a dark brownish-red color with a tan head. The aroma is toffee, lightly tart cherries and oak. Very inviting. The flavor is tart cherries, oak and vanilla. Medium mouthfeel and medium carbonation. A very nice, lightly sour beer that is very drinkable. (311 characters)

Served from bottle into a Duck-Rabbit stemmed snifter. Poured a massively dark brown (basically black) with a minimal light tan head. Maintained decent lacing throughout the glass. The aroma was comprised of sweet malt, tart cherry, acetic acid, and tart. The flavor was of sweet malt, tart cherry, caramel, wood, and subtle sour. It had a medium feel on the palate with medium carbonation. Overall this was a pretty good brew. This brew really threw me off as it smelled as if it would be much more sour/tart than it actually was. This one did have the tart/sour aspect going on, but it was not the dominant flavor in it at all. The flavors that were present really did a nice job of working together and enhancing one another. Just wish there would have been a little bit of the acetic acid present that I picked up on in the aroma. Defintely worth trying if you get the opportunity. (885 characters)

A tart but inviting beer, Cuvee Freddy pours a deep burgundy or mahogany color, leaving a fine ring of tan foam behind. The nose is sour with a whiff of vanilla, likely due to the aging in oak barrels. In short, this Flanders Oud Bruin is bold and full-bodied; cherry tartness and the aforementioned woody character are apparent in each and every mouthful.

Its drinkability is enhanced by the softening of the sour flavor in the drying finish. Let it linger on your tongue and you'll also notice hints of leather and dark skinned fruit. Overall, this is an aggressive and slightly acidic beer that serves as a noteworthy example of its style. (643 characters)

Well this is an odd one. It manages to be simultaneously both watery and somewhat harsh. Like really watered down Tussin, but with plentiful tobacco/leather/tannic notes and only mild sourness. There's also faint vanilla from the barrel.

Appearance – Pours an almost opaque color into a generic tulip. Slight red can be shown around the edges but overall, this sucker is practically impenetrable by light. Less than a finger of very quickly dissipating head is achieved with a decent pour, that leaves little lacing.

Taste – Red wine up front – the initial taste reminds me of consecration but not on the same level/caliber to be honest. Dark fruits such as cherries and plums, more sweet malts and oak come through midway, and at the end is just the hint of vanilla. The warmer this gets, the more the tart/sour cherries come through. However, not to be a downer or a negative nancy, this just isn’t on par with what I was expecting. I was hoping it to be a bit more mouth puckering and what not. Perhaps one with age...

Mouthfeel – Low (too low in my opinion) carbonation, medium bodied.

Overall – A good flanders, and one I’d honestly pick up in the future to see what age would do to it. I’m in the process of trying to find RR replacements now that I’m back in IL, and this one may have to do for a Consecration Also wish there was a bit more carbonation. (1,331 characters)

A: Basically a still beer, no carb other than the slightest cap which formed from nucleation after the pour. I Poured it aggressively. Dark Dark Dark red, basically black. Not turbid, pretty clear.

N: Tart red cherries, vinous grapes, a bit of lacto. I dont get any Belgian Owl Whisky barrel, but maybe a bit of Pinot Noir Oak. I don't get much funk or must, but there's a certain organic earthiness to the fragrance. Pleasant.

T: Big tart cherries are the dominant notes. It hits you with aggressive lambic lacto tartness, which you really get on the sides of your tongue, but transitions to the stout like oaky, very slightly smoky maltiness on the finish. Very interesting hybrid flavor profile. It's totally well integrated but you can pick out the two blended components on the front and back of eack sip.

MF: More wine-like than ale-like due to the almost total lack of carbonation. You have the tartness, which commands your palate and then puckers it a bit, without any real effervescence to cleanse. Medium bodied, with nice coating, but I could go with slightly more carbonation.

O: This is definitely a quality beer, and quite unique in approach. I can imagine that there is a fair amount of batch to batch variation based on the aging and blending methodology. If you like Flemish Reds, Oud Bruins and have an open mind, I think you will appreciate this beer. I'm a bit underwhelmed by the complex barrel aging protocol, which I imagined would be more apparent; I guess it's overshadowed by the tartness. I would definitely buy it again, and I would love to see how this ages. (1,945 characters)